Before Xu Bingzheng's words even faded, his vision spun wildly.
By the time he came to his senses, Wang Ping had already extracted his soul from the paper double using Soul Pursuing. Resting in Wang Ping's palm, Xu Bingzheng looked up at the sky in sheer helplessness.
As far as his gaze could reach, all he saw were five finger-shaped peaks rising like mountains and lines of skin running like rivers and ranges across the land. Towering into the clouds, the figure was too colossal to perceive in its entirety; he could only barely make out a pair of golden eyes gleaming like the sun and the moon, peering down at him through layers of clouds.
'It's over!'
At that moment, boundless regret flooded Xu Bingzheng's heart. Had he known this would happen, he never would have come. How could ambition and official advancement have blinded him so completely...?
Meanwhile, Wang Ping was also sizing up the captive soul in his hand.
Having lost his physical vessel and remaining only as a soul, Xu Bingzheng could hide nothing under the scrutiny of Wang Ping's spiritual sense. Every sliver of emotion was laid bare.
'Not a trace of surprise.'
'It seems that even in a wretched place like Dashun, rising from the dead isn't entirely unheard of... After all, even Xu Bingzheng himself came back to life.'
This was both good and bad.
The good part was that among countless precedents, Wang Ping's own resurrection would not draw too much scrutiny. The bad part was that future enemies would likely prove just as troublesome.
With that in mind, he glanced toward Youshen Temple. Seeing that Shen Monkey and Xu Dog had met no resistance and were already storming inside, he nodded with satisfaction. In any case, his scheme of inciting the common folk to raid the granary—drawing the snake from its hole and luring the tiger away from the mountain—had succeeded.
Wang Ping was by no means a pedant.
Helping the common folk raid the granary could have been done earlier or later. Why had he chosen to do it at this exact sensitive moment?
The entire purpose was to lure the tiger from the mountain.
By exploiting the granary's importance, he forced his opponents to defend what they could not afford to lose, compelling the Imperial Academy's forces to rush to the rescue and buying time for Shen Monkey and Xu Dog.
At the same time—
'Doing this lets them scout the way ahead for me to see what's inside Youshen Temple. If there's real danger, better a fellow traveler falls than myself...'
He had not expected to haul in such a massive fish.
Wang Ping gripped Xu Bingzheng's soul, mulling things over.
"Wang Ping... Little Friend Wang... Lord Wang!"
Xu Bingzheng's voice trembled as he changed his address three times in rapid succession. None of his former haughtiness remained, replaced entirely by overwhelming dread at having his life and death toyed with in the palm of another's hand.
In his eyes, Wang Ping was clearly no longer a mortal; he had become a thaumaturge just like Perfected Youshen, someone far beyond the reach of ordinary men.
With a single thought, Wang Ping could snuff out his life.
And that was indeed the case.
After all, Xu Bingzheng had fallen from the Weapon Register, his martial arts had plummeted, and unlike Yan Weichuan, he enjoyed no boost from a military formation. Worse yet, Wang Ping held him at point-blank range.
Under such circumstances, even if Xu Bingzheng possessed a wondrous treasure like the Spiritual Chariot of Ten Thousand Blades, Wang Ping was completely confident he could scatter his soul before the man could ever activate it... The gulf between them was just that vast. Had there been even the slightest chance of things going awry, Wang Ping would have executed him long ago.
Still, since he held absolute control over the situation, he intended to make full use of it. Everything had its purpose, and he could not let Xu Bingzheng's sacrificial value go to waste.
With that in mind, Wang Ping gave a faint smile.
"Come clean."
"The layout of Youshen Temple? Are Perfected Youshen and the Longevity as Old as Heaven Gourd inside? What is the repair progress? You have at least three things to answer."
"If I tell the truth, will you spare my life?" Xu Bingzheng asked in a low voice.
"I'll consider giving you a quick death," Wang Ping said calmly. "Of course, you're welcome to sample an agonizing one instead, so don't force yourself if you don't want to."
With those words, the silhouettes of fiends emerged one after another behind Wang Ping. Though these fiends—born of the slaughtered common folk of Longxing County—had long lost their mortal memories, their lingering obsessions remained. Seeing their former county magistrate Xu Bingzheng, their savage fiendish nature surfaced almost instinctively.
"I'll speak! I'll speak!"
Xu Bingzheng knew a thing or two about fiends, and he was acutely aware of the agony of having one's soul gnawed upon. The courage he had mustered with great effort vanished in an instant.
"There is a Bronze Man Formation inside Youshen Temple."
"There are nine bronze men in total within the formation. Every single one is invulnerable to blades and spears, but they know no martial arts. Furthermore, their numbers are incomplete and the formation is defective, so they aren't too difficult to deal with..."
Hearing this, Wang Ping understood immediately.
'What bronze men? Those are clearly strongmen!'
'I see. Daoist Nun You sent the strongmen she bought straight to Youshen Temple. The number is wrong... Naturally, there should have been ten strongmen.'
After all, he himself was missing from the count!
"Apart from them, there is Perfected Youshen in person. They are inside repairing the Longevity as Old as Heaven Gourd. I have already gathered all the lifespan required."
"By my reckoning, the repairs will be completed within three days."
"...That fast?"
Wang Ping frowned slightly. If that was the case, he could not afford to wait until the Fiend from Beyond cooldown finished before taking action. That was bad news.
After pondering for a moment, Wang Ping spoke again: "Is Perfected Youshen male or female, and what do they look like?"
Xu Bingzheng paused, casting a cautious glance at Wang Ping before testing the waters once more. "...If I tell you, can I trade it for my life?"
"Speak!"
With a flick of Wang Ping's thought, a fiend lunged forward like a ravenous beast, instantly tearing away a small chunk of Xu Bingzheng's soul.
"Aaaah—!"
The excruciating agony wrenched a shrill wail from Xu Bingzheng, leaving him no room to bargain. "The previous one was a man, but then they were replaced! The new one wears a bronze mask!"
"What about the voice?" Wang Ping pressed.
"I don't know that either... Wait, wait!"
Seeing Wang Ping's expression darken over his ignorance, Xu Bingzheng hurriedly blurted out, "Even so, I can make a guess!"
"No matter who Perfected Youshen is, the one currently in Youshen Temple shouldn't be the true body; otherwise, there would be no need to conceal their appearance. I suspect it's a kind of paper double like the one I had, only far more advanced. Besides, I've heard that powerful thaumaturges can rarely descend in person..."
"Right! That's it!"
Xu Bingzheng racked his brains, and as if recalling something crucial, he called out, "And from their speech and mannerisms, I suspect they might be a woman..."
"A woman?"
Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. "Are you certain?"
Xu Bingzheng lowered his head. "I can't say for sure, but I had that impression. After all, their every word and gesture gave off an inexplicable air of sultry charm."
'...Ah.'
Wang Ping sighed inwardly.
Xu Bingzheng could not confirm it, but from that description, Wang Ping already knew: 'No mistake about it. The one acting as Perfected Youshen this time is that venomous woman herself!'
An inexplicable air of sultry charm?
That was it!
Wang Ping had not forgotten that Daoist Nun You was recognized in the immortal sect as possessing the Supreme Bliss Immortal Physique; her allure and ability to bewitch the hearts of others were practically innate.
'Still, Xu Bingzheng is probably right about one thing. If Daoist Nun You had acted in her true form, her seductive charm would go far beyond just an "inexplicable impression." Perfected Youshen is almost certainly some sort of avatar... Cultivators from the immortal sect cannot easily descend to the mortal realm?'
'Well... that makes sense.'
Wang Ping let out a dry laugh. After all, the world of Dashun was essentially the immortal sect's Eight Trigrams Furnace. Who would leap into a fiery furnace meant for refining treasures unless they had lost their minds?'
With that thought, Wang Ping turned his gaze back to Xu Bingzheng.
Judging from the feedback of his spiritual sense, the man had divulged just about everything he knew. Pressing him any further would only produce fabricated nonsense; his sacrificial value was effectively spent.
In that case—
Crack!
Wang Ping curled his fingers, intending to crush Xu Bingzheng's soul outright. Seeing this, despair flooded Xu Bingzheng's face... Yet right at that moment.
"Hm!?"
A fierce, suffocating resistance surged from deep within Wang Ping's soul, abruptly halting his hand before he could obliterate Xu Bingzheng.
'This is... Daoist Nun You's magical power?'
Wang Ping's heart tightened. As the artifact spirit of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, the capital that allowed him to run amok right now was the magical power Daoist Nun You had infused into him beforehand.
Yet now, the very power that had previously obeyed his every whim was running rampant, rebounding against his body and shaking his soul. The fiends within the flag wailed in unison, and visible cracks spread across his entire form in an instant!
'Is this... a backlash?'
Wang Ping quickly regained his composure.
'I see. This body still belongs to a master after all. Daoist Nun You gave orders to the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, and I am defying them.'
In Wang Ping's mind, Daoist Nun You's voice rang out once more:
"Your mission this time is to gather as many fiends as possible and do everything you can to raise your rank."
"That is your primary task."
"Your secondary task is to ensure that the refining of the Longevity as Old as Heaven Gourd proceeds without disruption. Naturally, someone else is assigned to oversee that, so you need only assist from the side."
Whether conversing with Shouchong or slaying Yan Weichuan, Wang Ping had not violated that primary objective; it had remained within Daoist Nun You's threshold of tolerance.
Now, however, things were different.
In Daoist Nun You's plan, Xu Bingzheng was the key figure responsible for manipulating the fiends and harvesting lifespans. Slaying him directly breached that secondary directive.
In other words, it was turning on the master.
Under such circumstances, a backlash of magical power was only natural—if he refused to yield, the berserk power would likely obliterate him on the spot!
Evidently, after his previous betrayal, Daoist Nun You had heightened her guard against the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag and specially embedded such a restriction.
'Too bad for you, you're dealing with me.'
Wang Ping broke into a grin. Immediately sinking his awareness into the Mortuary, he activated the illuminated scripture upon the towering tome.
Courage of the Noble Gentleman!
So long as his actions aligned with upholding righteousness and maintaining justice, no injury could impair him unless his head was blown to pieces!
"Right now is the very hour to uphold righteousness and maintain justice!"
The next instant, the supreme profundity of the scripture descended from the void, gracing Wang Ping's form and washing away the torment of the backlash in a single breath.
Of course, the backlash had not ceased. Yet under the state granted by Courage of the Noble Gentleman, the damage it inflicted was far from fatal—it was practically negligible. Wang Ping could endure the backlash head-on and channel his magical power by force until the scripture's effect ran its course!
Snap!
Having neutralized the backlash, Wang Ping closed his palm once more, casting Xu Bingzheng—who had just harbored a sliver of hope—straight back into the abyss of despair.
A wisp of blue smoke drifted away as the soul dispersed into nothingness.
Having finished his deed, Wang Ping felt a sudden premonition. Looking toward Youshen Temple, he saw a beam of azure light shooting straight into the firmament.
***
Immortal sect, Divine Weapon Courtyard.
You Xuexin snapped her eyes open. Her stunning gaze fixed straight upon the star-like Eight Trigrams Furnace below, her fair features twisting into a grimace.
'The Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag... turned on its master?'
'Again!?'
Chapter 75